Project Link

http://urbandecaysolutions.edublogs.org/wiki/75hellerromantimemachine/

Facts

Ancient Rome

Urban decay in ancient Rome was caused because of inflation, the barbaric tribes, overpopulation, disease, building dilapidation, murder, abandonment, and filth.
Litter was a big problem because there were no street cleaners. It is also that the population of Rome was very high, which led to more pollution and trash.
Wooden buildings decayed very quickly, because rain soaked the wood and caused the wood to grow fungi. Other buildings were abandoned, either because the owner died or left. This left no one to take care of it which allowed it to decay and crumble.
There was no police force in the cities of Rome because they could not be paid. This allowed a lot more crime to spread, such as murder and theft.
A plague spread throughout Rome which caused many people to die and decreased the amount of people living in the cities. It also left the government and farms not managed effectively.
The barbarian tribes also had a role in urban decline. Those tribes were the Goths, Vandals, Lombards, Huns, Franks, Saxons, and Angles. They plundered and burned the cities, leaving the residents murdered, homeless, and dirt poor.
Dead bodies littered the ground in cities because they were killed out of greed of food or other supplies useful for survival. Money lost its value because of inflation, so everyone was poor and had to kill each other to get food.
Another reason everyone was so poor was because slaves were used for most work, which left everyone unemployed.
The rich government leaders were lazy and did not solve the problems about the lack of police force and street cleanup crews.

Present

In the poor areas of a city, there are people who own part of the area but do not take care of it. This leads to the build up of trash and buildings start becoming dilapidated.
Natural disasters such as that of hurricane Katrina can dump rubble on the streets and destroy buildings. This causes hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate the city. Also, tent cities are made around the poor areas of the city, which makes the place contaminated with human waste because the pipes are broken.
Over-the-Rhine land costs were much lower than they should have been, which caused lack of taxes.
A common cause of urban decay in the 1960's was redlining. Redlining was when banks, healthcare, and job access was denied to people of a certain race. These companies went out of business because no one wanted or could invest there.
Police brutality was common in Detroit in the 1960's such as arresting people at bars and humiliating any kids they come in contact with. This starts riots, which leads to even greater vandalism.

Solutions

To rebuild dilapidated buildings, the Romans could have posted watch guards around the building while it was being built so no one could vandalize it.
To clean up the streets and reduce crime, the rich Roman government leaders could have paid street cleaners to clean up the streets and created a police force to reduce the murder and theft.
To stop inflation, the Romans could have stopped minting coins, which then could have let people have more money who needed it.
To reduce unemployment, the Romans who owned slaves could have let the slaves free, so everyone could receive pay for their work. The Romans also could have created more jobs, such as building projects, mining, and joining the army.
If more Romans were paid to join the army, they could have had enough soldiers to defend the borders and keep the barbaric tribes from invading the Roman Empire.

Project Link

http://urbandecaysolutions.edublogs.org/wiki/75hellerromantimemachine/

Bibliography

Benfield, Kaid. "The Park at the Forefront of Cincinnati's Revitalization
" The Atlantic Cities. N.p., 12 July 2012. Web. 15 Jan. 2013.

Benfield, Kaid. "Revitalizing Cincinnati's Over the Rhine." Home. N.p., 15 June 2012. Web. 15 Jan. 2013.

Stanley, Sam. "Ground Zero in Urban Decline." Reason.com. N.p., Nov. 2001. Web. 15 Jan. 2013.

Contacts

David Mattingly

Hello, my name is Matthew and I am a seventh-grader living in Cincinnati, Ohio. I am doing a project on problems in ancient Rome that led to its fall. My topic is urban decay and filth. I heard you are an expert in ancient Rome, so I decided to contact you for more information for my project. I learned urban decay is caused by litter in the streets, murder, abandonment of homes, and vandalism of buildings, but why did these things happen? Why did people abandon their own homes? I would really appreciate it if you get back to me. Thank you for your time.